Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has denied suggestions that he is gambling with the UK economy and insisted that the biggest raft of tax cuts for half a century were “absolutely fair” as his mini-budget faced a hostile reception.
The Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) said he was “betting the house” by putting Government debt on an “unsustainable rising path”. The respected financial think tank’s scathing assessment said only those with incomes of over £155,000 will be net beneficiaries of tax policies announced by the Conservatives over the current Parliament, with the “vast majority of income tax payers paying more tax”.
During a visit to a factory in Kent on Friday afternoon, Mr Kwarteng told reporters: “It’s not a gamble. What is a gamble is thinking that you can keep raising taxes and getting prosperity, which was clearly not working.
